"Sola Scriptura advocates hypocritically deny the authority of the Catholic and Orthodox church organizations, then claim their own church's organization has authority."

"Given their commitment to sola scriptura, it is interesting to see how far Protestants will bend over backwards, at times, to affirm their commitment to ecclesiastical authority. At times, their statements, if taken in isolation, can sound almost Catholic." (Philip Blosser, Philosophical and Practical Problems with Sola Scriptura, 1998)

Refutation of the false Roman Catholic and Orthodox argument:

"Sola Scriptura advocates hypocritically deny the authority of the Catholic and Orthodox church organizations, then claim their own church's organization has authority."

The local church is the largest unit of organization in scripture.

While this may apply to Reform Protestants etc, this certainly does not apply to us.

The Bible's teaching on church authority is something so foreign to Roman Catholics and Orthodox, they may have to literally sit down and think about it for a moment to even begin to grasp it. Not because it is new or difficult, but because it is so simple.

In the Bible, the church had no organization larger than the local church which consisted of a plurality of elders, (who were also called bishops and pastors) ruling over the local church.

The congregation is to chose their own elders based upon a list of qualifications in 1 Tim 3 and Tit 1.

In addition to these elders a congregation may (or may not) have one or more paid pulpit preachers who are called "ministers, evangelists, preachers". These men have no oversight in the congregation but because of their role as preachers of the gospel from the Lord's day pulpit, they do have significant influence.

Although Christians in the local church are told to submit to these elders/overseers, that does not mean that they are free to practice things not found in the Bible. Should they do such, the congregation who appointed them, can remove them from their office.

So the congregation will submit to the elders on the basis that the elders are faithfully teaching the Bible.

In the Bible, overseers therefore, are not a power unto themselves over the congregation as we see in most denominations.

The congregation as a whole under the guidance of the elders and the spiritual insights of the pulpit preacher (who is also called preacher and minister) form a collective unit with a functioning common treasury from weekly freewill contributions.

Should any member, including the elder/overseers begin to live in an immoral way or teach heresy, the pattern of Matthew 18 must be followed to "mark them".

So this is the simple new testament pattern of church origination in the Bible.

The local church is the pillar and support of the truth, however we must be careful to separate her function of supporting truth, from the truth itself she upholds. The church is not the source of truth as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches teach, but the proclaimer of scripture to the world.